Promises made by Customs and Border Protection officials to bring greater transparency and accountability to their investigations of deadly force may be put to the test by the shooting death of a drug-smuggling suspect from Tucson only hours after the new policies were announced.

"We will hold people accountable. We will do investigations," CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said Friday morning, announcing new, more restrictive policies on the use of deadly force by Border Patrol agents and customs officers.

A few hours later, at about 2:30 p.m., Border Patrol Agent Daniel Marquez shot at Jose Luis Arambula, 31, nine times as Arambula fled on foot after his vehicle got stuck while he was driving across the Torres Blancas Golf Club in Green Valley, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. One shot hit Arambula in the head, entering behind the left ear, Deputy Tracy Suitt said.

The Border Patrol agents told detectives that Arambula, a U.S. citizen, had made what they called "punching out" motions with his hands, which police described as moving both hands out together as though aiming with a gun. However, sheriff's investigators said that Arambula was unarmed.

Border Patrol agents on Interstate 19 tried to pull over Arambula's vehicle, then gave chase as he drove from the highway onto an access road and a short street onto the golf course, according to the Sheriff's Department. Two agents chased Arambula on foot for about a quarter of a mile. Then, Marquez opened fire.

Golf course superintendent Dale Beddo said there didn't appear to have been any golfers or staff nearby at the time of the shooting.

"The first we knew about it was when the detectives called us because the sprinklers had come on," he said. The Sheriff's Department said deputies found 21 bales of marijuana weighing nearly 500 pounds in the car.

Arambula had been involved in a similar incident April 4, when he was chased and then arrested by sheriff's deputies a few blocks from I-19 in South Tucson. Deputies found marijuana and methamphetamine in his car, Pima County Deputy Prosecutor Heather Siegele said.

In that earlier incident, Arambula hit another vehicle while fleeing, leading prosecutors to file three counts of aggravated assault against him, as well as drug charges and one count of fleeing from law-enforcement officers, according to documents.

Arambula, who had no prior criminal convictions, was freed May 1 on a $2,500 bond, said his public defender, Tatiana Struthers. He had been due back in court to enter a plea on June 23.

On Friday morning, CBP Commissioner Kerlikowske announced changes to the Border Patrol's use-of-force policy, tightening and clarifying restrictions on when agents can use deadly force.

Kerlikowske also promised that, as part of an ongoing process, the CBP will improve the timeliness and transparency of the investigation of deadly-force incidents.

As The Arizona Republic has reported, investigations into past deadly-force incidents often remain open for two and even three years. The CBP has generally refused to release agents' names or any information either about its own review or other findings in such cases.

Marquez's name was released by the Pima County Sheriff's Department, not the Border Patrol. The CBP declined to confirm Marquez's name. As a matter of policy, the CBP acknowledges deadly-force incidents only when queried, a spokesman said, declining to answer any questions or provide further details about the incident.

Both the new and the prior use-of-force rules specified that agents were to use deadly force only when necessary because of the imminent danger of death or serious injury to themselves or someone else.

Both sets of rules also stated that deadly force is not to be used "solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject." Deadly force is justified only when the person "has inflicted or threatened to inflict serious physical injury or death" and the person's escape poses an imminent threat of serious injury or death to the agent or others.

The FBI confirmed Monday that it will not be involved in the investigation, which is being conducted by the Pima County Sheriff's Department.